"We know that China is extremely sensitive when it comes to Tibet and relations with the Dalai Lama. But frankly there was no reason for this decision [to cancel the summit]," European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso said on France's RTL radio on Sunday. "He [the Dalai Lama] has the right to meet whoever he wants." The EU's top diplomat, Javier Solana, on Friday also rebuked Beijing for executing 59-year old biochemist Wo Weihan - whose daughters are Austrian citizens - on charges of passing secrets to Taiwan.

Mr Weihan was killed with a shot to the head the same day the EU had urged China to reconsider his case at an EU-China human rights council in the Chinese capital. "This execution seriously UNDERMINES THE SPIRIT OF TRUST AND MUTUAL RESPECT REQUIRED FOR THIS EU-CHINA DIALOGUE ON HUMAN RIGHTS," Mr Solana's office said.

The latest summit and death penalty row could play into the hands of EUROPEAN LEADERS KEEN TO RESTRICT THE FLOW OF CHINESE IMPORTS DURING THE EU'S ECONOMIC DOWNTURN, experts warn. "PROTECTIONIST SENTIMENT toward China in Europe has been growing for a while," Center for European Reform analyst Katinka Barysch wrote in the Wall Street Journal. "ANTI-CHINA SENTIMENT IS ON THE RISE IN GERMANY ...Even in traditionally liberal Britain, people who see China as an economic threat outnumber those who see it as an opportunity by four to one."

By 2010 the US will have invested $4 billion in a research programme into "autonomous systems", the military jargon for robots, on the basis that they would not succumb to fear or the desire for vengeance that afflicts frontline soldiers.

A British robotics expert has been recruited by the US Navy to advise them on BUILDING ROBOTS THAT DO NOT VIOLATE THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS. Colin Allen, a scientific philosopher at Indiana University has just published a book summarising his views entitled Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right From Wrong.

He told The Daily Telegraph: "The question they want answered is whether we can build automated weapons that would conform to the laws of war. CAN WE USE ETHICAL THEORY TO HELP DESIGN THESE MACHINES?" Airborne drones are already used in Iraq and Afghanistan to launch air strikes against militant targets and robotic vehicles are used to disable roadside bombs and other improvised explosive devices.

The mood was a festive one on Wednesday in Washington D.C. Just like every year before Thanksgiving, US President George W. Bush "pardoned" a turkey - this year's version was named Pumpkin. President-elect Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, for their part, joined TV legend Barbara Walters for a chat. The atmosphere was relaxed - they talked, for example, about how the Obama daughters would be in charge of making their own beds when they moved into the White House in January.

But then the images from the terror attacks in Mumbai began flickering across the television screen. And suddenly, the pre-holiday calm in Washington and Chicago, where Obama's transition team is headquartered, came to an abrupt end. Bush and Obama quickly issued statements. "President Bush offers his condolences to the Indian people and the families of the innocent civilians killed and injured in the attacks in Mumbai," the White House statement said. "The US government continues to monitor the situation… and stands by ready to assist and support the Indian government."

The Obama statement was in a similar vein. "These coordinated attacks on innocent civilians demonstrate the grave and urgent threat of terrorism," Obama spokesman Brooke Anderson said. "The United States must continue to strengthen our partnerships with India and nations around the world to root out and destroy terrorist networks."

The crisis could be Obama's first big foreign policy test. The world is going to dissect his response. The president-elect has already been in the spotlight for days because of the worsening financial crisis. Given the extent of the economic catastrophe, the January 20th inauguration date seems too far in the future for an ever-growing number of Americans. For three straight days, Obama has held press conferences in order to introduce economics experts who will advise him and stimulus programs that should help the country out of the crisis. His message was clear: "Help is on the way."

AIDS IS A TERRIBLE HUMANITARIAN TRAGEDY, BUT IT'S JUST ONE OF MANY TERRIBLE HUMANITARIAN TRAGEDIES," said Jeremy Shiffman, who studies health spending at Syracuse University. Roger England of Health Systems Workshop, a think tank based in the Caribbean island of Grenada, goes further. He argues that UNAIDS, THE U.N. AGENCY LEADING THE FIGHT AGAINST THE DISEASE, HAS OUTLIVED ITS PURPOSE AND SHOULD BE DISBANDED.

"THE GLOBAL HIV INDUSTRY IS TOO BIG AND OUT OF CONTROL. We have created a monster with too many vested interests and reputations at stake, … too many relatively well paid HIV staff in affected countries, and too many rock stars with AIDS support as a fashion accessory," he wrote in the British Medical Journal in May. He argues that closing UNAIDS would free up its $200 million annual budget for other health problems such as pneumonia, which kills more children every year than AIDS, malaria and measles combined.

"By putting more money into AIDS, we are implicitly saying it's OK for more kids to die of pneumonia," he said. His comments touch on the bigger complaint: that AIDS HOGS MONEY AND MAY DAMAGE OTHER HEALTH PROGRAMS. BY 2006, AIDS FUNDING ACCOUNTED FOR 80 PERCENT OF ALL AMERICAN AID FOR HEALTH AND POPULATION ISSUES, according to the Global Health Council.

Inside the attaché, known as "the football," are THE CODES TO IDENTIFY AND AUTHENTICATE A PRESIDENTIAL ORDER THAT COULD LAUNCH NUCLEAR WEAPONS and ignite a global holocaust. Routine to us, perhaps astonishing to much of the world, this peaceful passing of "the football" will propel Obama into a maelstrom.

What awaits the new commander in chief is the weighty responsibility of defending the United States - and a nasty brew of nuclear weapons problems that range from the threat of terrorist attacks to potential new regional and superpower arms races. Iran and North Korea are rushing headlong toward building nuclear arsenals. And the main arms reduction treaty with Russia expires next year.

THOSE KNOWN CHALLENGES ARISE FROM AN UNRULY WORLD THROWN INTO DEEPER TURMOIL BY THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS, a world in which nuclear technology spreads like wildfire and almost 10,000 nuclear weapons could be on alert at any given time. The risk of nuclear war will grow during the next 20 years, U.S. intelligence officers concluded last week. Surprise, in this realm, is almost a given. "It is immensely sobering when you are actually confronted with all the responsibility related to nuclear weapons," said Matthew Bunn, a former White House nuclear weapons adviser now at Harvard's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

A new long-range forecast from America's top spy agencies said THE POSSIBILITY OF A NEW NUCLEAR ARMS RACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST, ignited by Iran's race to build a nuclear weapons arsenal, PROMISES NEW INSTABILITIES "potentially more dangerous than the Cold War" between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Joe and Chris Miller's fields were picked so clean Saturday that a second day of GLEANING - THE ANCIENT PRACTICE OF PICKING UP LEFTOVER FOOD IN FARM FIELDS - was canceled Sunday. "Overwhelmed is putting it mildly," Chris Miller said. "People obviously need food." She said she expected 5,000 to 10,000 people would show up Saturday to collect free potatoes, carrots and leeks. Instead, an estimated 11,000 vehicles snaked around cornfields and backed up more than two miles. About 30 acres of the 600-acre farm 37 miles north of Denver became a parking lot.

Some people parked their cars along two nearby highways to take to the field with sacks, wagons and barrels. "EVERYBODY IS SO DEPRESSED ABOUT THE ECONOMY," said Sandra Justice of Greeley, who works at a technology company. "This was a pure party. EVERYBODY HAVING A A GREAT TIME GETTING SOMETHING FOR FREE." Justice and her mother and son picked 10 bags of vegetables.

Miller said they opened the farm to the free public harvest for the first time this year after hearing REPORTS OF FOOD BEING STOLEN FROM CHURCHES. It was meant as a thank you for customers.

"We are now closer than ever before. I'm not going to break the confidentiality of certain conversations, but some British politicians have already told me: 'If we had the euro, we would have been better off'," Barroso told a weekly French news programme, referring to the fall in the pound's value since markets and liquidity meltdown earlier this year.

"The British have an enormous quality, one of many, that is they are pragmatic," he said on the panel of a joint RTL-LCI radio and television broadcast. "This crisis has emphasised the importance of the euro, and also of Britain," he added.

"I don't mean this will happen tomorrow, I know that the majority (of British people) are still opposed, but there is a period of consideration underway and the people which matter in Britain are currently thinking about it," the former Portuguese prime minister said.

Sir Gulam Noon, known as the "curry king" because of his ready-meals firm, said a ban was required to prevent extremists such as the British National Party exploiting tensions. "I strongly feel that whoever are the immigrants here, we better give them jobs and give them dignity to live here before we import some more," he told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show.

"I do not want a situation whereby a party like the BNP say 'listen, all your jobs are being taken away by immigrants'. We have to be extremely careful. Some sort of a ban should be there." The suggestion that the ban could last up to a decade comes from a forthcoming autobiography, the Mail on Sunday reported. It said that Mr Noon writes in the book: "We should wait for five or ten years, until all the newcomers have been properly integrated and assimilated into the country. Until then we should just shut the door."

ISLAMISTS SEE THE "INVASION OF BOMBAY" AS THEIR VICTORY. In their websites yesterday, many called it "Clear Victory" (Fath al-mobeen), a term used to designate the Prophet's earliest victories. The Jihadists have reason to feel triumphant.

THEY SHOWED THAT THEY WERE STILL CAPABLE OF HITTING HARD AND ON A GRAND SCALE, continuing the chain of their "triumphs" in New York, Madrid and London. They showed that they are able to change tactics and adapt to new circumstances. THEY MADE A MOCKERY OF THE MUCH ADVERTISED "COUNTER-TERRORISM COOPERATION" BETWEEN WASHINGTON AND NEW DELHI by showing that Indians were not any safer as a result of their government's alliance with the American "Great Satan".

The utter confusion of Indian counter-terrorist units, rushing about like headless chickens, seen live on TV by millions, must have been greeted by Jihadists with their usual war cry of "Allah Akbar!" (Allah is the Greatest). If the attacks succeed in wrecking Zardari's efforts at peacemaking while derailing rapprochement between Washington and New Delhi, the "invasion" could also produce an unexpected diplomatic fruit for the Jihadis. This was a bad week for opponents of Islamic terror. India, Pakistan and other governments concerned should do nothing to make it worse.

It takes quite a nerve for us to claim we are fighting terror and promoting civilisation in Afghanistan, when we have been beaten hollow by the IRA in Ulster, when we cannot prevent deaths like that of 'Baby P', and our own poorer zones are lawless wastelands of disorder and violence, guns and knives, long abandoned by authority.

It's weeks since Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith said that THE IDEA OF DEFEATING THE TALIBAN WAS 'NEITHER FEASIBLE NOR SUPPORTABLE', AMERICA'S SPOOKS RECENTLY CONCEDED THAT OUR OPERATIONS THERE WERE IN A DOWNWARD SPIRAL, and our Ambassador to Kabul, Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, has been revealed in a leaked document to believe that OUR MISSION IS DOOMED.

AFGHANISTAN'S GOVERNMENT IS A CORRUPT, POWERLESS JOKE, not least because it is founded on the barrels of foreign guns. It does not even control its own capital. The Taliban are quietly re-establishing themselves in a cleverly modified form, avoiding some of their old unpopular policies. There is no point in waiting for a new American President to save us from our own folly. And Mr Obama's most likely way of showing off will be to step up the futile Afghan conflict, since it is still – absurdly – popular and widely believed to have a defined purpose. PROBABLY HE WILL MAKE MORE AND MORE RAIDS INTO PAKISTAN, a country already stumbling around in wounded circles.

We forget everything, and learn nothing. Politicians often pose as being able to save us from economic crises, which in fact they cannot control any more than they can order the weather about. They do have absolute power over the deployment of our troops, yet they never debate it, and political journalists never ask them about it. And this is certain. WE HAVE FAILED AT WHATEVER IT WAS WE WERE DOING IN AFGHANISTAN, IF WE EVER KNEW WHAT IT WAS. Who dares send another man to die in a cause that's already lost? Get out now.

Christopher Jamison, the Abbot of Worth in West Sussex, has accused the corporation of "exploiting spirituality" to sell its products and of turning Disneyland into a modern day pilgrimage site. He argues that IT PRETENDS TO PROVIDE STORIES WITH A MORAL MESSAGE, BUT HAS ACTUALLY HELPED TO CREATE A MORE MATERIALISTIC CULTURE.

In a guide to helping people find happiness, the abbot warns that society is in danger of losing its soul because of growing consumerism and the decline of religion. He cites films such as Sleeping Beauty and 101 Dalmatians that feature moral battles, BUT GET INTO CHILDREN'S IMAGINATIONS AND MAKE THEM GREEDY FOR THE MERCHANDISE THAT GOES WITH THEM. "The message behind every movie and book, behind every theme park and T-shirt is that our children's world needs Disney," he says.

Fr Jamison targets the behaviour of Disney in particular, which he says is "a classic example" of how consumerism is being sold as an alternative to finding happiness in traditional morality. "Where once morality and meaning were available as part of our free cultural inheritance, now corporations sell them to us as products."

By this weekend, seismologists hope to install three measurement devices to gather data about future temblors in the area. That information could show whether the rumbles come from heat-related geological changes or from an undiscovered fault — which could mean a risk of substantial earthquakes in the future.

"The potential for generating a high-magnitude earthquake is real," said Haydar Al-Shukri, director of the Arkansas Earthquake Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Central Arkansas does not have any seismic history, Al-Shukri said. "IT IS ABNORMAL. IT IS SIGNIFICANT," he said. "We need to carefully watch this activity."

The government said the figure was unsatisfactory but could have been a lot worse if it had not taken action against illegal logging. HIGH COMMODITY PRICES HAD ALLEGEDLY TEMPTED FARMERS TO CLEAR MORE LAND. In recent years the Brazilian government has been able to celebrate three successive falls in deforestation. But the latest estimate from the National Institute for Space Research, known as INPE, shows that this trend has come to a halt.

In response the government announced a series of measures to clamp down on illegal logging, including a major operation involving police and environmental inspectors known as the "Arc of Fire". Brazil's Environment Minister, Carlos Minc, said that without actions like this, the figures could have been much higher. "Many had expected an increase of 30-40% and we managed to stabilise it," Mr Minc told a news conference. But he said that the government was still not satisfied.

"We want to lower numbers even more. We want zero deforestation." Environmental groups will be watching the situation carefully to see if the resolve and the resources they say are needed to protect the Amazon region are in place, our correspondent says.

Mr Hu gave his warning at a meeting of the Politburo and his words have been made public by the state media. As growth slows, Mr Hu said that in the coming period China would starkly confront the effects of the international financial crisis.

Recent figures show that the government has cause to be worried. Growth has slowed to 9% - and predictions say that it may drop to 7% or 8% next year. These are dazzling figures for some economies, but there's a widespread belief - even a superstition - in CHINA THAT GROWTH NEEDS TO STAY ABOVE 7% IN ORDER FOR SOCIAL STABILITY TO BE MAINTAINED.

China has already taken action. This past week the central bank carried out the biggest cut in interest rates in more than a decade. And earlier this month, the government announced a stimulus package of $586bn (£380bn). This is enough, the Communist Party will hope, to get this country through the next year or two.

Debby Baksh is one of thousands of customer sales agents hired and trained online by US firm Arise to answer calls at home. In her Brooklyn living room, she supplies phone services to some of the biggest companies in America and around the world.

HER CONVERSATIONS WITH CUSTOMERS ARE RECORDED AND ANALYSED BY HER BOSSES, and her performance is monitored constantly by software on her computer. If she steps away for any reason without logging off, the machine will know about it. To keep an eye on arms-length employees one customer Service Company claims to have software CAPABLE OF DETECTING AN ANGRY AGENT OR EVEN A BABY CRYING in the same room - a definite no-no in the home sales world.

But telephone tracking technology has its critics. They point out that remote workers should be aware that GETTING SACKED IS ONLY ONE CLICK AWAY, as most systems are set up to ensure they never have legal status as an employee.